Project management is central to the operation of many industries, helping. The rewards of a career in project management are putting your problem solving to good use, maintaining and organizing a plan for the work ahead as well as working with others to achieve a common goal. Understanding Project management career progression will help you know where to start.

Project management is essentially directing others to accomplish tasks and fulfil requirements. This can be around launching a new app, operations improvements the company needs or even building out an in-house construction. Eventually, you will require some adequate hands-on experience and skill development, including certifications to gain more momentum. Next, we will delve into how a usual project management career unrolls. 

Let’s dive in!

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What is Project Management? 

Project managers are responsible for facilitating all how a project is weaved together — it takes everyone focused on what they have to do, without anyone waiting around or ruffling feathers. Excellent communication, organizational skills and coping under pressure are all great qualities of a good project manager. These skills are critical to keeping a project on track. In your career growth, moving into certifications such as PMP or Agile project management can help in landing additional avenues for advancement.

Your Career Launch — Entry-Level Roles 

The vast majority of people start their project management careers in entry-level roles. This ensures that they pick up quickly on how stuff works and are accustomed to working within established boundaries. 

Entry-level positions Project Coordinator or Assistant Project Manager, These are roles of working with senior project managers. You will handle basic things like scheduling, organizing meetings and stay communications across the team. This way it is possible to have an idea of how the projects work without having to lead a whole team. 

After that, you advance to Junior Project Manager. In this role, you may lead less complex projects or assist more senior roles on larger projects and be given greater ownership. This is their path to becoming invested in higher roles. 

Mid-Level Movement: Project Manager

After starting as a junior manager, the next significant move is to become a full-fledged project manager. You have ownership over complete projects end to end in this role. It means you would need to create a plan, set a timeline, manage resources, and oversee the team. Project managers fix issues that arise to keep the project on schedule. That is exactly where PMP can help you out. They will make sure that your knowledge would be able to deliver and manage big projects with success. In general, project managers at this level earn $90K – $100K per year depending on the industry and location 

Promotion: Senior Project Manager 

As you gain experience, your next move could be into a senior role like Sr. Senior project manager. This role needs more experience because you are responsible for larger-scale projects often involving many teams or departments. You will also have numerous projects to handle at a time, and hence organizational capabilities become even more indispensable. They also take on the responsibility of mentoring junior project managers to help them grow. So this is a bit more strategically placed than you would be able to act within your group of projects. Soon, you will be less focused on individual projects and more concerned with deciding the direction in which the company is headed. Senior project managers earn more than $150,000 per year on average. 

Read also: Is Business Analyst A Good Career?

Project Management Career Progression: Director of Project Management 

The next step after a good amount of experience is to be on the Director level. At this level, now you are not just managing one project or a few but also the whole department of the company for doing all sorts of Project Management Types. In this case, it is about ensuring that all the current projects are in line with those goals and more importantly completed effectively. In addition, as a director, you must work closely with the executives to make sure that your projects are aligned with what helps drive overall business success. This can be achieved with advanced leadership abilities and knowledge of business strategies, as well as potentially an MBA to assist the transition from project management decisions to those at an executive level. To give a ballpark, Directors of Project management salaries average around $195k annually. 

As a project manager, you might be itching to take that next step or even as far into the stratosphere of executive titles as the VP of Operations (VP) OR Chief Operating Officer (COO). It is their responsibility to supervise all the operations of a company, ensuring that everything works efficiently towards long-term corporate vision and goals.

Vice President of Operations

Vice President of Operations (The VP) makes sure that all the departments in your company are connected and work well together, while also aligning each department to a set of long-term goals for your company. You will be managing several teams including other senior executives making suggestions on how to improve the company output.  VPs of operations will usually take home about $226,000 per year

Chief Operating Officer (COO)

One of the most senior executives in an organization. She or he ensures that the strategies have been implemented in each of the areas within all departments, which are directly relevant to achieving long-term results for your company. This is a very senior role that needs significant leadership experience as well solid understanding of how the company operates. Top Salary: Over $300K in annual pay – adds a project management-related position to the highest paid roles anybody may dream of reaching COO.

Degrees and Certifications 

Earning the right certifications plays a major role in project management. Some of the most highly-valued ones include:

• PMP (Project Management Professional): One of the top certifications for project managers, proving that you have both experience and possess exceptional skills in managing projects. 
• Certified Scrum Master (CSM): Ideal if you are in agile project management, which is common among software development industries. 
• Acquiring Agile Certification: This certification will suitably reward those who are overseeing rapid projects requiring flexibility and adaptability. In simplified contexts that fall on the higher end of practical PM, some project managers will finish off their coursework and executive-tire towards an MBA (Master of Business Administration). This usually would give them business acumen not deeply developed compared to seasoned professionals requiring hard decision-making. 

Wrap-Up: Project Management Career Progression

A career in project management is not the end of it. Whether you are a project coordinator or want to jump into the role of a senior leader, there is always scope for growth. Project management professionals are needed in nearly every field and range from IT to construction to healthcare. Gain experience, keep learning and get the right certifications to move up from starter roles into those where you actually make a difference in your company. 

Earning top executive positions such as Director of Project Management, VP of Operations or even COO status doesn’t happen overnight but it is well worth the commitment and financial gain whether in your career path. The road from officer to senior leadership may be a long one, but it is also an interesting and educational journey. When done correctly, project management can be an exciting career that leads directly to your ultimate goal.